MY EYES ARE BURNING!!!!!!!@#!@$%@#%
Okay, fine. Click here to visit the plain version of this FAQ.
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Where do I get the game from????
You can buy the game online from TuxGames by clicking here: NWN@TuxGames.
I recommend you order it from that link because TuxGames will be including an installer
and whatever you need to make the game run on Linux without the use of WineX or Windows.
If you want in on the beta test, you can order from them, and your purchase will count
as a Linux sale, and you can ask them to ship it immediately. Note that if you do this,
you won't get the installer, or whatever it is that TuxGames has planned. You could
also look for the game in a store near you, but what fun is that? Support TuxGames,
as they support the Linux community!
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How do I install NWN without Windows - or worse - WineX?
BioWare will be providing game resources for download when the first non-beta version of
the client is ready. In the meantime, you can use these instructions:

Run the installer from a command line as root, inserting the CDs when
prompted for them. I recommend you install using the default path, and ALL
OF THE TEXTURES. Movies will not play in the Linux client, so you don't
need them. If the installer doesn't recognize the CDs, then you don't have Joliet
enabled in your kernel. If you get errors with Wine, you can try running the command export
LD_ASSUME_KERNEL=2.2.5 before you run the installer.

Assuming there are no errors or problems, change into the directory that
you installed NWN into, still as root.

Run this command to check your files for corruption: md5sum -c nwnlinux.md5
If anything reports FAILURE, then something went wrong. If files are missing, then
chances are good that you didn't install all of the texture packs (which is fine),
or the cases of your files are messed up. Check into this.

Now change the permissions of all of the NWN data so that your user and group
only can read and write to the files. This is necessary until BioWare implements
per-user settings. Alternately, you can look into my multi-user script here:
http://icculus.org/~dolson/files/nwn-per-user.sh.
Read the script to see how it works. Follow instructions that it outputs. You can also
check out Ironclaw's multi-user script stuff here:
http://home.everestkc.net/ironclaw/.
To change the permissions and ownership, run this command, as root, from inside the dir that
you installed NWN into: chown -R user.group ../nwn ; chmod ugo=rX,ug+w ../nwn
Make sure that you substitute `user` with the Unix name of the user that you wish to
play NWN as, and `group` with the Unix name of your user's group, or, alternately,
a group that you make specifically for running NWN. Others will have read access, but
not write access, thereby preventing them from overwriting files accidentally.

You can now try running the command nwn as your user. Do this from a console
so that you can get any error messages, as this is still a beta!

If it doesn't work right off the bat for you, all is not lost. You can go and
look on BioWare's forums to see how someone else solved the problem, if there is a fix.
You could join us in #openknights on irc.freenode.net for real-time help and conversations
and game setups and so forth. And don't forget to read through the rest of this FAQ
for help to the most common problems!

Why doesn't BioWare host that Loki installer?
According to Derek French, the InstallShield EULA that BioWare has agreed to does not
permit them to extract the files from any InstallShield CAB files with any tool other
than an InstallShield program. As of the first non-beta client release, they will have
the game resources available for download. I'm willing to bet that most honest Linux
users would just use their CDs and ravage's installer, assuming they knew of it's existance.
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Will Linux users get the Shadows of Undrentide and other expansions?
Yes. BioWare has said that the Linux client will be able to run the expansions. It is
my guess that the expansions will be nothing more than addon data files, possibly just
some hak packs, mods, music, and movies (despite the lack of movie support in the Linux client).
BioWare has stated that the Shadows of Undrentide CD has a Loki installer and a shell script
installer for Linux users. This is fantastic news. You can pre-order your copy of this expansion
at TuxGames by going here: SoU@TuxGames.
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I'm one of those oh-so-leet FreeBSD users. Can I run this game?
Yes. The beta client has been known to run
just fine on FreeBSD 4.7, 4.8 and possibly 5.0. If you can't figure out how to make
it work, then maybe you just aren't so l337 after all.
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I am using only a partial install. How do I make it use my CD-ROM drive?
I don't know why you would want to do this, but you can mount the Play Disc as normal, and then
edit the nwn.ini file to say something like this somewhere in the file (assuming your mount
point is /mnt/cdrom:

I can't run the game unless I'm in the directory!!!
So you were using Ravage's installer, and then you upgraded to a newer version of the client, right?
Well, you'll have to manually edit the nwn script, and put one command in it that changes
to the directory that you've installed Neverwinter Nights to. If you want to do something
more generic and fancyish, you can modify your nwn script to look for the nwncdkey.ini
file, and then change to the directory that it's in. This is what I do. I have about three
copies of that file on my hard drive, so it will default to the last one, which just happens
to be the correct one. If you want to see how many you have, make sure you've updated
your search database since you've installed the game, and then run locate nwncdkey.ini.
If it returns the full path to that file only once, you're laughing. If it returns it multiple times,
you'll have to work out the details on your own.
Alternately, my multi-user script doesn't require editing, and to upgrade, I just have to untar the
newer releases in the global directory and all is well. If you want help with my script, email me.
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Help! It doesn't run on my <insert non-NVidia card here>!!!
If your card isn't supported by the latest version of the client, then chances are that
your drivers are the problem. Gothmog of A from the BioWare forums has made a workaround
patch for ATI users to try. You can download it here: http://mschoder.bei.t-online.de/nwnati.tar.gz
Note that you shouldn't require the xdelta patch with the latest client released from BioWare.
Medevehk has reported success with a TNT2 card.
Sfuerst has reported success with a Matrox 450 card.
Hamunaptra has reported success with a Voodoo5 card.
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I can't hear anything - no music, no sound!!!!
Okay, calm down. There are ways of telling whether it is a problem. First of all,
are your speakers turned on? Is your volume turned up? Are your speakers plugged in?
Can you hear sound from other games or music players? Okay. Now, disable any sound
daemons that are running, such as Artsd. Yay! You should have sound and music now.
Red Hat users may need to disable automatic startup of esd by editing their /etc/esd.conf
and setting auto_start=1 to auto_start=0. Then kill esd and try starting
the game again. It should go (thanks Michael).
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The game crashes on me if I try to <insert something here>!!!
Most commonly there are permission errors set incorrectly for the game. Try running
this command, as root, from inside the dir that you installed NWN into: chown -R
user.group ../nwn ; chmod ugo=rX,ug+w ../nwn and try again. Make sure that
you substitute `user` with the Unix name of the user that you wish to play NWN as, and
`group` with the Unix name of your user's group, or, alternately, a group that you make
specifically for running NWN.
Another problem is that the data is corrupted. Download my MD5SUM listing file for the
NWN data files by running wget http://icculus.org/~dolson/files/nwnlinux.md5 inside of the NWN install directory.
Once the file is downloaded, run this command to check your files for corruption: md5sum
-c nwnlinux.md5
And finally, you may have stumbled upon a bug. Please report it to BioWare.
Note: There are undoubtedly more problems and solutions that I will add as I find them.
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OMGOMGOMGOMG I can't play this game online!!!!
As of Beta 6, server browsing and internet chat are supported. If you were using an
older version, upgrade and see if you can play online. If this doesn't fix your problem,
read on.
You need to change your hostname of your computer to something valid. To do this, you
need to change it in /etc/hostname, and check out /etc/hosts as well. You can try
running the command hostname mycomputer or whatever you like, and see if that
works. If it does, then change it in the appropriate files. If the command hostname -v --fq
returns without any error, then the game should work in multiplayer.
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What is the story!!??! No videos means I'm confused!!!
The cinematic videos do not play in the Linux client. This is because Bink does not exist
for Linux. BioWare said that Linux users won't get the cinematics for either Neverwinter Nights,
or the expansion Shadows of Undrentide. It is likely that any other expansions will not have
cinematic playback either. At one point, BioWare stated that they would likely release the videos
in MPEG format as a download, but it seems they have changed their minds. If this is due to
Bink licensing issues, then I hope that they don't use Bink in the future, assuming they bother
with Linux again (and I sure hope they do).
Apparently, if you look at your journal right after a chapter transition, the text of the cinematic
is put there for you to read it. This doesn't help you get a feeling of closure when you complete
the final chapter, however...
If you want to conver the videos for playback using Mplayer or some other Linux media viewer, look
at this website: http://delirare.com/stuff/nwnbink2ogm.php[top]

I get an "insufficient disk space" error when I try to create a character!!
Again, this is most likely to be a permission problem. Try running this command, as
root, from inside the dir that you installed NWN into: chown -R user.group ../nwn ;
chmod ugo=rX,ug+w ../nwn and try again. Make sure that you substitute `user`
with the Unix name of the user that you wish to play NWN as, and `group` with the Unix
name of your user's group, or, alternately, a group that you made specifically for
running NWN.
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I just get a black screen, a `ding` in my speakers, and then it returns me back
to the command prompt - no errors. WTF?
I had this same problem. I solved it by putting the Miles libraries into one of the
paths that were listed in my /etc/ld.so.conf file. Alternately, I could have added the
path to the Miles libraries (/usr/local/games/nwn/miles) to my ld.so.conf file.
Other people have other fixes. Some people put a link called libGL.so into their NWN directory
or in the Miles directory, which they pointed at NVidia's libGL.so.1 file.
Also, make sure that AGP is enabled. To do so, run this command: cat /proc/driver/nvidia/agp/status
and check the output. You should see that the Status is
"Enabled" and which driver you are using - most likely to be AGPGART or NVIDIA. If these
settings aren't right, adjust them. You can add Option "NvAGP" "1" or Option "NvAGP" "2"
to your /etc/X11/XF86Config file under the Device section for your NVidia card. Note: Some distros
use XF86Config-4 as a file name instead. If you continue to receive crashes, try upgrading
to the latest NVidia drivers. Don't forget to rmmod nvidia ; modprobe nvidia and
then restart X. This solved the problem for someone (thanks bDove).
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The game segfaults on me when I try to start it!!
This can be caused by many different things. First thing to do is check that the MD5SUMs match. If they
don't, then some data is corrupted or missing. If you are missing some of the texture files, then
chances are that your nwn.ini file is configured to use a different texture set than what you have
installed. If ALL of the texture files are missing, but you know that they exist, the file case is wrong
and you will have to rename them by hand. Here are the file names, with the proper case:

GUI_32bit.erf

Textures_Tpc.erf

Tiles_Tpb.erf

Textures_Tpa.erf

Tiles_Tpa.erf

Tiles_Tpc.erf

Also check to ensure that you have SDL 1.2.5 or higher installed. Lower versions may work, but
I wouldn't argue that considering BioWare used 1.2.5 to develop the client. Note that as of Beta 6,
BioWare has included a pre-built SDL library, and instructions to use it are included.
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My mouse is jumpy and I blame the government!!
Edit the nwn script and add export SDL_MOUSE_RELATIVE=0 before the line that executes nwmain.
This fix was implemented by BioWare and any recent client should not require this fix.
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Grr!! Anti-aliasing is b0rk3d!!!111oneoneone
If you have an NVidia card, you can edit the nwn script and add export __GL_FSAA_MODE=# before
the line that executes nwmain. Be sure to replace the `#` with a valid number for your
video card. You can get more information about the valid FSAA modes by reading the
NVidia documentation located at /usr/share/doc/NVIDIA_GLX-1.0/README.
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My textures are flickering worse than a strobe light set on max!!!
Your uber-leet ATI Radeon card is the culprit. You can try running the command export
R200_NO_TCL=1 before starting the game, to see if it fixes the problem. If
it does, you can modify your nwn script to do this automatically. This should work
on cards that use the r200 DRI driver. If this doesn't fix it, then I don't know. I
don't buy ATI hardware. I am just passing on the message. If you have a different
fix for this problem, send it in to me.
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Oh no! Everyone looks like the Terminator!! Run away! Run away!
Look in your nwn.ini file, under Video Options, and change the line that says Enable
CreatureEnvironmentMapping=1 to say Enable CreatureEnvironmentMapping=0.
Alternately, you could look for the option inside the game's option menus.
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I just installed some hak packs, but they aren't working!
Make sure you run ./fixinstall to change the case of the file names.
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WTF? Illegal character? Illegal items? WTF is this crap?
Edit your nwnplayer.ini file and change the line that says Single Player
ItemLevelRestrictions=1 to say Single Player ItemLevelRestrictions=0 and
the line that says Single Player Enforce Legal Characters=1 to say Single Player
Enforce Legal Characters=0 and start the game. This is needed for mods such as the Zelda:
A Link to the Past module.
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How do I make the client run in a window?
Open up your nwn.ini file and find the text Fullscreen=1. Change
it to say Fullscreen=0 and add a new line right before or after it.
On this new line, put in AllowWindowedMode=1. Save the changes.
Now NWN will start in a window, of the size specified elsewhere in the
same config file.
Note that you will need the resolution that you wish to use available in your XF86Config file,
even though you are using windowed mode. This is because BioWare implemented it such
that the game would only run in valid video modes. If you don't like it, too bad.
Also note that the minimum resolution that the game will run at is 800x600.
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The game is SLOOOOOOOOOWWWWW. No, I mean like KDE-slow!
It's time to put your X server into 24-bit depth mode, as opposed to 16-bit depth mode.
This is necessary because the stencil buffer is not hardware accelerated at 16-bit depth,
and it is used extensively in NWN for the shadows and so forth.
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How do I see my framerate?
Start the game up and press ~, which opens the console prompt. Type in fps to get the current
framerate, or type in trace fps to keep the framerate on-screen.
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The camera angles are restrictive!
Open the console in the game by pressing ~ and type in unlockcamera 1.
If you don't want to have to do this every time you start the client, you can edit nwnplayer.ini,
and under the Control Options, you can add in a new line: UnlockCamera=1 (thanks Thantel).
Alternately, you can use the unsupported camera hack. For details, go here: http://nwvault.ign.com/Files/hakpacks/data/1049732364934.shtml[top]

Is there anything else I can do to boost my framerate? I'm cheap, so...
Well, this tip was found on the BioWare forums:

Boot Linux in console mode (normally init 3).

Kill any processes that are not critical to system operation. For example, servers
that you don't need running, such as MySQL, Apache, and so forth.

Run the command export DISPLAY=:0.0

Edit the nwn script. On the line that executes nwmain, add in: nice -n -10 before it
so that it sets a higher priority on the game's executable.

To run the game, run X && ./nwn

Your framerate should now be boosted. I haven't tested this at all yet. I have, however, used a
.xinitrc file that just runs `nwn` when I `startx` and it gave a performance increase. Not
enough that I do it every time I want to play, however.
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I wanna play with other Linux users!!!
I highly recommend you join our guild! The URL for the guild is:
http://nwn.bioware.com/guilds_registry/viewguild.html?gid=1191
You can browse our user list, and see what IP addresses people are playing online at, and
you can schedule games, and so on. If you want to join, send a request to
us, and we will grant it. I think that FreeBSD users should be welcomed as well,
as they are using the Linux port to play the game, they post in our forum, and they
use a pretty cool operating system as well. I, personally, dual-boot with
FreeBSD, but I don't use it to play my games in. If anyone has a objections to this,
then please let email me at dolson@icculus.org[top]

Okay, enough games - I wanna build stuff!!!
Well, we aren't getting the toolset. I don't see why not, other than the fact that it may be a lost
cause already. Borland was originally blamed for the lack of toolset, but then we saw the same issue
with Miles - "No Linux Support from 3rd Party" they said. Well, both RAD and Borland have delivered,
and BioWare went with Miles halfway through the client port process, so I think we should still get
a port of the toolset. However, even though BioWare do have the latest Kylix release, I doubt it
will happen.
If you really wanna build, you can help build the builder - join the OpenKnights project! The
website is here: http://openknights.sf.net/ and they are
working with BioWare (in a limited capacity) to provide *something* to the Linux and Mac users who
were left in the Windows dust.
Recently, BioWare have added a section on their website for developers. You may want to look there as well.
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